Cool Weather, Hot Chicks. What should you do when the weather changes?
We're fast approaching the cold weather that starts our new year. Temperatures drop at night and it is normal for the new chicken owner to worry about their brood. Are they warm enough? Will they 'freeze' out there? Should I bring them inside? Do they need a heat lamp? Water heater? Mittens? Likely they need none of the above.
Although a broody hen would have them tolerating the world much sooner, the guidelines for incubated chicks is clear, with a 5 degree drop in temperature of the hatcher until week four. But what about our birds older than that? The best advice is to allow the feathery course of nature to occur naturally as seasonal temperatures rise and fall.
There are at least six degrees of separation between a chicken's body temperature and ours. They are a hot animal. Ever pick up a chicken in the winter and it cuddles up to you? Wraps its head around your neck? And it is still warmer than you? Its the same chicken that would hug your neck on a hot summer day. For the chicken it is more a sign of affection than being chilly. In fact, when they stretch their neck, it is actually cooling the body and dissipating heat as they unlayer the neck feathers and expose maximum bared skin.
Not only do chickens generate heat, they also lack the pain receptors where having cold feet or legs would be a bother to them. Pick up that 'cold' chicken again, and their feet and legs and comb might feel cold, but their body is toasty! As a 'bird', they are 'dressed' for temperature changes. Just like we fluff a down comforter for layered heat, they merely have to fluff the layers of down and feather to regulate their body temperatures. Ask the two ounce finch bouncing across the ice if it needs a coat.
So what should you do for your chickens when the weather changes? Chickens are domesticated animals, so no matter what time of year, they need clean fresh water, fresh balanced feed, and a clean, dry, well ventilated coop. Master those three elements, your chickens will flourish with the changing seasons. And best course to let nature take its course on the ones that don't flourish in the best of conditions. Be wise and help the fittest poultry survive.
Of the three - food, water, air - the most important changing weather consideration is maintaining adequate ventilation while still providing a measure of protection against winds and precipitation. A chicken will falter from poor air quality much sooner than from a cold spell. Whether it be hot or cold, keeping fresh air flowing, and moisture inside the coop under control, is essential to maintaining the litter, the feed, and the health of the chicken.
Chickens do an excellent job of creating hot moisture in the coop. They expel moisture and body heat when they exhale, so their breath is hot and moist. And they excrete solids and liquids together, mostly when roosting at night, so their poop is hot and moist. In a coop without adequate ventilation, the environment can deteriorate quickly, creating the perfect environment where latent organisms can spring to life and affect the health of your chickens. We're talking molds and parasites and bacteria and viruses. A well ventilated coop is not conducive to these organisms, no matter what the temperature.
You can prepare for a cold spell by filling an extra waterer for those hard freezes. Just in case their water freezes, you can quickly provide them fresh water at room temperature without having to get too wet yourself. You can give them warm up treats, like cracked corn, that create fast calories/heat on those cold days. Or pour hot water on their feed, to make a warm mash. Do they "need" that? No. Does it feel good? Yes.
And ideally your coop has solid cover on three sides, and an open ventilated fourth wall facing south/southeast. On your coops with an open wall to extreme weather/winds/rain, you can put up a temporary tarp over night, or during the rains, and be sure to remove it during the day so the coop can air out again. This allows the air flow necessary to keep the coop healthy and dry.
What about their combs? There are definitely stories of chickens getting frostbite on their combs. One thing to avoid is using an emollient like an oil on the comb or wattles, thinking you are giving it an extra layer of protection. Studies show that those chickens tend to experience worse symptoms of the cold, and not just on their combs. They are unable to sense/register the temperature drops in their comb soon enough, and so then expose their entire body to the elements for longer.
I have some friends that will knit little chicken hats and scarves if you want some, and make little leggings out of fancy colored vetwrap. But your chickens will survive the cold without any additional styling required. They are a big ball of down and feather in the cold cold weather, so don't pamper them through the year, allow them to develop their feathers gradually as the temperature cools, and enjoy the weather with them, no special dressing involved.
-BluebonnetEggs
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